Friday, June 30, 2017
New Research Finds Air Pollution is Far Deadlier than Previously Thought
Dr. Jeff Masters · June 29, 2017
The U.S. standards for our two deadliest air pollutants--ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5 )--are not stringent enough to prevent thousands of premature air pollution deaths each year among the elderly, found a study by Harvard University scientists, led by Qian Di, released Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research was exceptionally vast and lengthy, covering all 61 million Americans on Medicare, age 65 and older, for the thirteen years from 2000 to 2012.
The EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) sets the acceptable annual average concentration of PM2.5 pollution at 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air. However, the study discovered that PM2.5 concentrations as low as 5 micrograms per cubic meter caused significantly increased death rates, and found no “safe” level of PM2.5 below which the risk of death tapered off. In a press release accompanying the paper, the researchers said that if the level of PM2.5 could be lowered by just 1 microgram per cubic meter nationwide, about 12,000 lives could be saved every year. Similarly, if the level of ozone could be lowered by just 1 part per billion (ppb) nationwide, about 1,900 lives would be saved each year.
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Death certificates never list air pollution as the cause of death. Nevertheless, air pollution is a huge and silent killer: about 3 million premature deaths per year globally are due to outdoor air pollution. Between 91,000 and 100,000 air pollution deaths per year occur in the U.S., according to separate studies done in 2016 by the World Bank and the Health Effects Institute (a U.S. non-profit corporation funded by the EPA and the auto industry.) Even higher U.S. air pollution deaths in excess of 200,000 per year were estimated for 2005 in a 2013 MIT study.
Air pollution deaths are calculated using epidemiological studies, which correlate death rates with air pollution levels. Air pollution has been proven to increase the incidence of death due to stroke, heart attack and lung disease. Since these causes of death are also due to other factors—such as life style and family history—we typically refer to air pollution deaths as premature deaths. A premature air pollution-related death typically occurs about twelve years earlier than it otherwise might have, according to Caiazzo et al., 2013.
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Trump issued an executive order designed to undo the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which aimed to reduce pollution from power plants. His June announcement that the U.S. would pull out of the Paris Climate Accord was a further blow to hopes for a cleaner atmosphere.
The cost to industry was given as the primary reason for these actions. However, a full cost-benefit analysis does not support this rationale. For example, the EPA estimates that annual costs to industry of the Clean Power Plan will be $1.4 - $2.5 billion in 2020, increasing to $5.1 - $8.4 billion per year in 2030. These estimates factor in the costs of investments in transitioning to lower-carbon electricity options and the savings that result from investments in energy efficiency. Electricity bills are predicted to rise modestly by 2.4 to 2.7 percent in 2020, but then decline by 2.7 to 3.8 percent in 2025, and 7 to 7.7 percent in 2030 as investments in energy efficiency pay off.
The public health and climate benefits of the Clean Power Plan are worth an estimated $34 billion to $54 billion per year in 2030, far outweighing the costs, the EPA estimates. Burning fewer fossil fuels will create less air pollution, and air pollution from the power generation industry will fall about 25% by 2030 if the Clean Power Plan is adopted. The EPA projects that the reduction in pollution will prevent up to 3,600 deaths, 1,700 heart attacks, 90,000 asthma attacks in children, and 300,000 missed work and school days per year by 2030.
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In a New Engalnd Journal of Medicine editorial that accomanied Wednesday's research paper, the authors note that in explaining his withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, Trump stated, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Ironically, Pittsburgh is less than 30 miles from the Donora Smog Museum, where a sign reads, “Clean Air Started Here.” Denora is the site of one of America's deadliest air pollution disasters, an October 1948 episode when smog from a zinc plant and a steel mill, both run by the United States Steel Corporation, settled over the town, sickening thousands and killing at least 20 people. The editorial concludes, "With the report by Di et al. adding to the large body of evidence indicating the risks of air pollution, even at current standards, we must redouble our commitment to clean air. If such protections lapse, Americans will suffer and we are doomed to repeat history. Do we really want to breathe air that kills us?"
Global Warming Tipped Scales in Europe’s Heat Wave
No surprise. If you have half a cup of hot water and half a cup of cooler water, if you add the same amount of hot water to each, the one that was warmer to start with will continue to be the warmer one.http://www.climatecentral.org/news/warming-tipped-june-heat-wave-21585
Andrea Thompson By Andrea Thompson
June 29, 2017
Global warming gave a clear boost to the searing temperatures that blanketed Western Europe earlier this month — a heat wave that helped fuel deadly wildfires in Portugal.
The greenhouse gas-driven warming of the atmosphere has made the intensity and frequency of such extreme heat up to 10 times as likely, according to a new analysis from researchers working with Climate Central’s World Weather Attribution program and several outside partners.
It is the latest such attribution analysis to show that the warming that has occurred over the last century — nearly 2°F (1°C) — has already had a clear influence on such extreme heat events.
“Global warming has already put a thumb on the scales; it’s already tipped the odds,” Noah Diffenbaugh, a Stanford University climate scientist who wasn’t involved with the work, said.
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To evaluate the role of global warming in the recent heat wave, the researchers used both historical temperature observations and climate models to see how the odds of such an event have changed over time and to compare the odds in a climate with and without warming, respectively.
They found that the likelihood of such a heat wave had at least doubled across the region and was up to 10 times more likely in the worst-hit places, Spain and Portugal. What was once a rare heat event can now happen every 10 to 30 years, and is more likely to happen earlier in the summer.
The findings fit with other studies, including one by Diffenbaugh that found that record heat was both more likely and more severe over 80 percent of the part of the globe with good enough observational data.
That trend toward more and more severe heat will continue, especially if the heat-trapping greenhouse gases that are driving global temperature rise aren’t curtailed.
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Thursday, June 29, 2017
Informative links
House Republicans OK Measure Asking Military to Study Climate Change
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28062017/miltary-base-flooding-sea-level-rise-congress-republicans-order-report
Climate Change Will Hit the Poorest the Hardest in the U.S.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-economic-damage-us-21582
New proposal allows nursing homes to force residents to give up legal rights
http://clark.com/protect-your-identity/nursing-home-arbitration-rights-rule-medicare-medicaid/
A million bottles a minute: world's plastic binge 'as dangerous as climate change'
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/28/a-million-a-minute-worlds-plastic-bottle-binge-as-dangerous-as-climate-change
CBO Weighs Who Wins, Who Loses With Senate Health Care Bill
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/27/534465505/chart-cbo-weighs-who-wins-who-loses-with-senate-health-care-bill?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170627
This Former GOP Congressman Loathed Obamacare — Until He Lost His Own Coverage
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-jolly-obamacare_us_59529e05e4b02734df2de1be
Billionaire Warren Buffett says GOP health reform bills are relief for the rich
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/part-2-billionaire-warren-buffett-says-gop-health-reform-bills-relief-rich/
Jellied sea creatures confound scientists, fishermen on US Pacific Coast
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-jellied-sea-creatures-confound-scientists-fishermen-on-us-pacific-coast-2017-6
Arm your PC against the global NotPetya ransomware attack with these easy tips
To see the tips on protecting your PC, you have to click on the "Read More" block at the end of the page.https://www.yahoo.com/tech/notpetya-ransomware-global-epidemic-protect-221352229.html
[Digital Trends]
Kevin Parrish
Digital TrendsJune 28, 2017
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What systems are at risk?
For now, the NotPetya ransomware seems to be focused on attacking Windows-based PCs in organizations. For example, the entire radiation monitoring system located in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was knocked offline in the attack. Here in the United States, the attack hit the entire Heritage Valley Health System, affecting all facilities that rely on the network, including the Beaver and Sewickley hospitals in Pennsylvania. The Kiev Boryspil Airport in the Ukraine suffered flight schedule delays, and its website was knocked offline due to the attack.
Unfortunately, there’s no information pointing to the exact versions of Windows the NotPetya ransomware is targeting. Microsoft’s security report doesn’t list specific Windows releases, although to be safe, customers should assume that all commercial and mainstream releases of Windows spanning Windows XP to Windows 10 fall within the attack window. After all, even WannaCry targeted machines with Windows XP installed.
How do you protect yourself against it?
Microsoft has already issued updates blocking the EternalBlue and EternalRomance exploits used by this latest malware outbreak. Microsoft addressed both on March 14, 2017, with the release of security update MS17-010. That was more than three months ago, meaning companies attacked by NotPetya through this exploit have yet to update their PCs. Microsoft suggests that customers install security update MS17-010 immediately, if they haven’t done so already.
Installing the security update is the most effective way to protect your PC
[See the article for more info on protecting against the virus.]
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Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Climate scientists reveal their fears for the future
Several of the scientists said they were making plans to move to places where temperatures are not expected to rise as much in the near future.
By Kerry Brewster
June 27, 2017
Cradling her newborn baby girl, heatwave expert Sarah Perkins Kirkpatrick admits to feeling torn between the joy of motherhood and anxiety over her first-born child's future.
"I always wanted a big family and I'm thrilled. But my happiness is altered by what I know is coming with climate change," she said.
"I don't like to scare people but the future's not looking very good.
"Having a baby makes it personal. Will this child suffer heatstroke just walking to school?"
Dr Perkins Kirkpatrick is one of several climate scientists who Lateline spoke to, seeking a range of opinions from experts at some of the top climate change research units within major universities in Australia.
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PhD student Justin Oogers said he and his wife were also unsure of whether to have children.
"We're quite concerned, even scared. Our parents want us to have children and there are great things about having children but knowing what's happing with climate change we've been putting it off," he said.
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Informative links
Solar eclipse viewing: What to wear to protect your eyes
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/solar-eclipse-what-to-wear-to-protect-your-eyes/
Texas, Arkansas take opposite directions insuring their poor
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/medical/article/Texas-Arkansas-take-opposite-directions-insuring-10788392.php
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Health-Care-Costs-Differ-Greatly-Between-TX-and-Neighboring-Arkansas--405897415.html
when men take testosterone, they make more impulsive — and often faulty — decisions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/opinion/sunday/men-testosterone-hormones.html
AP analysis shows how gerrymandering benefited GOP in 2016
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ap-analysis-shows-how-gerrymandering-benefited-gop-in-2016/ar-BBD6jue?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp
New study confirms the oceans are warming rapidly
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/jun/26/new-study-confirms-the-oceans-are-warming-rapidly
Mom of boy with rare disorder shares photo of astronomical hospital bill
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/26/mom-of-boy-with-rare-disorder-shares-photo-of-astronomical-hospital-bill/23002769/
Poll shows U.S. tumbling in world’s regard under Trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/poll-shows-us-tumbling-in-worlds-regard-under-trump/2017/06/26/87a4f1bc-5857-11e7-840b-512026319da7_story.html?utm_term=.ea0bb883922b
Life After Hate, Inc., a 501(c)(3) U.S. nonprofit, was created in 2011 by former members of the American violent far-right extremist movement.
https://www.lifeafterhate.org
Someone made a ridiculous video about NASA finding aliens. News outlets took the bait.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/06/26/someone-made-a-ridiculous-video-about-nasa-finding-aliens-news-outlets-took-the-bait/
Even the Insured Often Can't Afford Their Medical Bills
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/medical-bills/530679/?utm_source=atlfb
You Do Not Think Alone
A new book argues that thought and knowledge are community efforts
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/you-do-not-think-alone/?WT.mc_id=SA_FB_MB_NEWS
How to get rich - push poor people to make donations to you
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/27/trump-lawyer-jay-sekulow-donations
Trump lawyer's firm steered millions in donations to family members, files show
Jon Swaine
June 27, 2017
More than 15,000 Americans were losing their jobs each day in June 2009, as the US struggled to climb out of a painful recession following its worst financial crisis in decades.
But Jay Sekulow, who is now an attorney to Donald Trump, had a private jet to finance. His law firm was expecting a $3m payday. And six-figure contracts for members of his family needed to be taken care of.
Documents obtained by the Guardian show Sekulow that month approved plans to push poor and jobless people to donate money to his Christian nonprofit, which since 2000 has steered more than $60m to Sekulow, his family and their businesses.
Telemarketers for the nonprofit, Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (Case), were instructed in contracts signed by Sekulow to urge people who pleaded poverty or said they were out of work to dig deep for a “sacrificial gift”.
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In addition to using tens of millions of dollars in donations to pay Sekulow, his wife, his sons, his brother, his sister-in-law, his niece and nephew and their firms, Case has also been used to provide a series of unusual loans and property deals to the Sekulow family.
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Sekulow, 61, is the president of Case and the chief counsel of its sister organization, the American Center for Legal Justice (ACLJ). He has become one of Trump’s most vocal defenders since joining the team of attorneys representing the president amid investigations into possible ties between his campaign and Russia.
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Sekulow has assured supporters that his organization “does not charge” for its services. “We are dependent on God and the resources He provides through the gifts of people who share our vision,” he wrote in a letter sent to contributors.
For years, the nonprofits have made a notable amount of payments to Sekulow and his family, which were first reported by Law.com. Since 2000, a law firm co-owned by Sekulow, the Constitutional Litigation and Advocacy Group, has been paid more than $25m by the nonprofits for legal services. During the same period, Sekulow’s company Regency Productions, which produces his talk radio show, was paid $11.3m for production services.
Sekulow also personally received other compensation totalling $3.3m. Pam Sekulow, his wife, has been paid more than $1.2m in compensation for serving as treasurer and secretary of Case.
Sekulow’s brother, Gary, the chief operating officer of the nonprofits, has been paid $9.2m in salary and benefits by them since 2000. Gary Sekulow has stated in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filings that he works 40 hours per week – the equivalent of a full-time job – for each of the nonprofits. Filers are told to specify if any of the hours were spent on work for “related organizations”. He does not.
Meanwhile, a company run by Gary’s wife, Kim Sekulow, has received $6.2m since 2000 in fees for media production services and for the lease of a private jet, which it owned jointly with Jay Sekulow’s company Regency Productions. The jet was made available for the use of Jay and Pam Sekulow, according to corporate filings.
Jay’s two sons, and Gary’s son and daughter, have also shared at least $1.7m in compensation for work done for the nonprofits since 2000.
Federal law bars insiders at a nonprofit from receiving “excess benefit”, which is defined as payment exceeding the fair market value for goods or services the insider provides. If the IRS finds that an excess benefit has been paid, the recipient may be fined 200% of the benefit’s value, and the nonprofit could be stripped of its valuable tax-exempt status.
“I can’t imagine this situation being acceptable,” said Arthur Rieman, managing attorney at the California-based Law Firm for Nonprofits. “That kind of money is practically unheard of in the nonprofit world, and these kinds of transactions I could never justify.”
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In one arrangement, Case paid a company owned by Jay Sekulow to sublet office space from 1998 to 2002. The location was not publicly identified but in corporate filings during that period both Case and the company cited the same suite in an industrial park in Lawrenceville, Georgia, as their headquarters.
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“$60m is a lot of money,” said Charles Bridgers, an Atlanta-based attorney practising in nonprofit law. “If the IRS did an audit, they’d want to understand what they based that value on. We need to understand whether it might have conferred an excess benefit.”
Trump lawyer's firm steered millions in donations to family members, files show
Jon Swaine
June 27, 2017
More than 15,000 Americans were losing their jobs each day in June 2009, as the US struggled to climb out of a painful recession following its worst financial crisis in decades.
But Jay Sekulow, who is now an attorney to Donald Trump, had a private jet to finance. His law firm was expecting a $3m payday. And six-figure contracts for members of his family needed to be taken care of.
Documents obtained by the Guardian show Sekulow that month approved plans to push poor and jobless people to donate money to his Christian nonprofit, which since 2000 has steered more than $60m to Sekulow, his family and their businesses.
Telemarketers for the nonprofit, Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (Case), were instructed in contracts signed by Sekulow to urge people who pleaded poverty or said they were out of work to dig deep for a “sacrificial gift”.
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In addition to using tens of millions of dollars in donations to pay Sekulow, his wife, his sons, his brother, his sister-in-law, his niece and nephew and their firms, Case has also been used to provide a series of unusual loans and property deals to the Sekulow family.
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Sekulow, 61, is the president of Case and the chief counsel of its sister organization, the American Center for Legal Justice (ACLJ). He has become one of Trump’s most vocal defenders since joining the team of attorneys representing the president amid investigations into possible ties between his campaign and Russia.
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Sekulow has assured supporters that his organization “does not charge” for its services. “We are dependent on God and the resources He provides through the gifts of people who share our vision,” he wrote in a letter sent to contributors.
For years, the nonprofits have made a notable amount of payments to Sekulow and his family, which were first reported by Law.com. Since 2000, a law firm co-owned by Sekulow, the Constitutional Litigation and Advocacy Group, has been paid more than $25m by the nonprofits for legal services. During the same period, Sekulow’s company Regency Productions, which produces his talk radio show, was paid $11.3m for production services.
Sekulow also personally received other compensation totalling $3.3m. Pam Sekulow, his wife, has been paid more than $1.2m in compensation for serving as treasurer and secretary of Case.
Sekulow’s brother, Gary, the chief operating officer of the nonprofits, has been paid $9.2m in salary and benefits by them since 2000. Gary Sekulow has stated in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filings that he works 40 hours per week – the equivalent of a full-time job – for each of the nonprofits. Filers are told to specify if any of the hours were spent on work for “related organizations”. He does not.
Meanwhile, a company run by Gary’s wife, Kim Sekulow, has received $6.2m since 2000 in fees for media production services and for the lease of a private jet, which it owned jointly with Jay Sekulow’s company Regency Productions. The jet was made available for the use of Jay and Pam Sekulow, according to corporate filings.
Jay’s two sons, and Gary’s son and daughter, have also shared at least $1.7m in compensation for work done for the nonprofits since 2000.
Federal law bars insiders at a nonprofit from receiving “excess benefit”, which is defined as payment exceeding the fair market value for goods or services the insider provides. If the IRS finds that an excess benefit has been paid, the recipient may be fined 200% of the benefit’s value, and the nonprofit could be stripped of its valuable tax-exempt status.
“I can’t imagine this situation being acceptable,” said Arthur Rieman, managing attorney at the California-based Law Firm for Nonprofits. “That kind of money is practically unheard of in the nonprofit world, and these kinds of transactions I could never justify.”
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In one arrangement, Case paid a company owned by Jay Sekulow to sublet office space from 1998 to 2002. The location was not publicly identified but in corporate filings during that period both Case and the company cited the same suite in an industrial park in Lawrenceville, Georgia, as their headquarters.
•••••
“$60m is a lot of money,” said Charles Bridgers, an Atlanta-based attorney practising in nonprofit law. “If the IRS did an audit, they’d want to understand what they based that value on. We need to understand whether it might have conferred an excess benefit.”
Monday, June 26, 2017
Sea level rise is accelerating, with Greenland in leading role
http://mashable.com/2017/06/26/sea-level-rise-accelerating-because-greenland/
By Andrew Freedman
2017-06-26
Global sea level rise is accelerating as the Greenland Ice Sheet sheds more of its ice, scientists have found.
Given this quickening pace, it's possible that by the end of this century, sea level rise could threaten coastal communities around the world, from Miami to Mumbai.
A new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, is one of a few recent works to confirm an acceleration in sea level rise during the past few decades. There had been greater uncertainty about this before, with climate deniers latching onto that and arguing that such an acceleration has not, in fact, been occurring.
However, by using calculations of the various contributing factors to sea level rise, such as melting ice sheets, water expansion that occurs as the oceans warm, and other factors, researchers from institutions in China, Australia, and the U.S. found that global mean sea level increased from about 2.2 millimeters per year in 1993 to 3.3 millimeters per year in 2014.
While that may seem tiny, the numbers add up quickly. These rate changes are the difference between a decadal sea level rise rate of 0.86 inches and 1.29 inches, with greater acceleration expected in the future.
The findings also made clear how major contributors to sea level rise have been changing over time. And it doesn't paint a pretty picture.
Whereas global ice mass loss constituted 50 percent of sea level rise in 1993, this rose to 70 percent in 2014. The study found that the largest increase came from the Greenland Ice Sheet, which made up just 5 percent of the global mean sea level rise rate in 1993, and now constitutes 25 percent of it.
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By Andrew Freedman
2017-06-26
Global sea level rise is accelerating as the Greenland Ice Sheet sheds more of its ice, scientists have found.
Given this quickening pace, it's possible that by the end of this century, sea level rise could threaten coastal communities around the world, from Miami to Mumbai.
A new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, is one of a few recent works to confirm an acceleration in sea level rise during the past few decades. There had been greater uncertainty about this before, with climate deniers latching onto that and arguing that such an acceleration has not, in fact, been occurring.
However, by using calculations of the various contributing factors to sea level rise, such as melting ice sheets, water expansion that occurs as the oceans warm, and other factors, researchers from institutions in China, Australia, and the U.S. found that global mean sea level increased from about 2.2 millimeters per year in 1993 to 3.3 millimeters per year in 2014.
While that may seem tiny, the numbers add up quickly. These rate changes are the difference between a decadal sea level rise rate of 0.86 inches and 1.29 inches, with greater acceleration expected in the future.
The findings also made clear how major contributors to sea level rise have been changing over time. And it doesn't paint a pretty picture.
Whereas global ice mass loss constituted 50 percent of sea level rise in 1993, this rose to 70 percent in 2014. The study found that the largest increase came from the Greenland Ice Sheet, which made up just 5 percent of the global mean sea level rise rate in 1993, and now constitutes 25 percent of it.
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Saturday, June 24, 2017
Informative links
The Senate GOP hid the meanest things very deeply in its Obamacare repeal bill. We found them
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-senate-hidden-20170623-story.html
Evacuate Earth? Hold your Horses Hawking
https://avoiceforearth.wordpress.com/2017/06/24/evacuate-earth-hold-your-horses-hawking/
Very important. Hope to have time to make a post of it:
The Rise of the Weaponized AI Propaganda Machine
https://medium.com/join-scout/the-rise-of-the-weaponized-ai-propaganda-machine-86dac61668b
Why Did Henry Ford Double His Minimum Wage?
http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2014/01/03/history/post-perspective/ford-doubles-minimum-wage.html
Renowned Psychoanalyst Reveals Disturbing Revelation About Donald Trump’s Supporters, And It Is Extremely Sad
https://www.leftscoop.com/2017/06/renowned-psychoanalyst-reveals-disturbing-revelation-donald-trumps-supporters-extremely-sad/
Spare the Kids
Why Whupping Children Won't Save Black America
http://www.beacon.org/Spare-the-Kids-P1257.aspx
40 is Considered Old in Senate GOP Health Plan
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/40-is-considered-old-in-senate-gop-health-plan/?WT.mc_id=SA_FB_HLTH_NEWS
Pedophiles in Conservative Protestant churches
https://newrepublic.com/article/142999/silence-lambs-protestants-concealing-catholic-size-sexual-abuse-scandal
Trump Adviser Who Called For Killing Hillary Clinton Gets Front-Row Seat At White House
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/al-baldasaro-turmp_us_594d62afe4b05c37bb765250?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
The World Is Burning
By IPS World Desk
Jun 23 2017 (IPS) - Record high temperatures are gripping much of the globe and more hot weather are to come. This implies more drought, more food insecurity, more famine and more massive human displacements.
In fact, extremely high May and June temperatures have broken records in parts of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the United States, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported, adding that the heat-waves have arrived unusually early.
At the same time, average global surface temperatures over land and sea are the second highest on record for the first five months of 2017, according to analyses by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Copernicus Climate Change Service.
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Meanwhile, the world has marked New Inhumane Record: One Person Displaced Every Three Second. Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informed in its report Global Trends, released ahead of the World Refugee Day on June 20.
The figure equates to “one person displaced every three seconds – less than the time it takes to read this sentence.
Such an unprecedented high records of human displacements is not only due to conflicts. In fact, advancing droughts and desertification also lay behind this “tsunami” of displaced persons both out of their own countries and in their own homelands.
On this, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) on June 17, alerted that by 2025 –that’s in less than 8 years from today– 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions.
Now it is feared that advancing drought and deserts, growing water scarcity and decreasing food security may provoke a huge ‘tsunami” of climate refugees and migrants. See The Relentless March of Drought – That ‘Horseman of the Apocalypse’
Monique Barbut, UNCCD Executive Secretary, reminded that the world’s drought-prone and water scarce regions are often the main sources of refugees. Neither desertification nor drought on its own causes conflict or forced migration, but they can increase the risk of conflict and intensify on-going conflicts, Barbut explained.
In Parallel, the United Nations leading agency in the fields of agriculture has issued numerous warnings on the huge impacts that droughts have on agriculture and food security, with poor rural communities among the most hit victims.
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Wildfires blazing under extreme heat out West
Part of Trump & other republican's plans for stimulating the economy and making jobs. Spend money on overtime and other costs for combating wildfires and floods. After they are over, people and government will have to spend a lot of money on repair and replacement, and medical care for the injured, work for those who take care of the dead.http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/24/us/west-us-wildfires-heat/index.html
By Nicole Chavez and Eric Levenson, CNN
Updated 5:19 PM ET, Sat June 24, 2017
CNN's Tony Marco contributed to this report.
A series of wildfires is blazing across the Southwest as the chance of rain remains low amid a deadly heatwave.
Eighteen large fires are burning in the region, including six in Arizona, three in Utah, three in California, three in New Mexico, two in Nevada and a large one in Oregon. The two biggest wildfires are in southern Arizona and Utah.
Wildfires already have caused far more destruction than usual in the first half of 2017, meteorologist Haley Brink of the CNN Weather Center said. Almost 1 million more acres had burned by Thursday, compared with the 10-year average through June 22.
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The Frye Fire in southern Arizona covered nearly 30,000 acres as of Saturday afternoon and was 29% contained, the forest service at Coronado National Forest said.
More than 800 personnel are battling the fire, which started June 7. The Frye Fire is about 70 miles northeast of Tucson, the second-largest city in Arizona.
Gov. Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency Friday in Arizona to authorize the use of $200,000 of emergency funds to counter increased wildfire activity.
Since April, the state has experienced more than a dozen large wildfires "aided by high temperatures, winds, and available fuels," his office said in a statement.
•••••
In Utah, too, raging fires continue to blaze with little rain relief in sight.
Nine communities, including Brian Head, a ski town near the Dixie National Forest in the southern part of the state, have been evacuated, officials said. At least 800 people have been evacuated so far, according Brian Head town manager Bret Howser.
•••••
Sixteen other active fires of lesser size are blazing around the West.
In New Mexico, the Corral Fire reached about 17,000 acres and is burning with low to moderate intensity, according to New Mexico Fire Information.
And in central Oregon, the Rhoades Canyon Fire grew to 15,000 acres but was 50% contained, according to CNN affiliate KTVZ.
The heat in the West and Southwest is blamed for the deaths of two people in California, and it could have been a factor in the deaths of two hikers whose bodies were found in New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
Scientists: Get Used to Wildfires in a Warming World
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/scientists-wildfires-warming-world-21360
Bobby Magill
April 17, 2017
Communities across the Western U.S. and Canada may have to adapt to living with the ever-increasing threat of catastrophic wildfires as global warming heats up and dries out forests across the West, according to a University of Colorado study published Monday.
Residents living in neighborhoods adjacent to forests — known as “wildland-urban interface” zones — will have to accept that many wildfires may have to be allowed to burn and that building new homes in fire-prone forests should be discouraged, the study says.
•••••
climate change is making wildfire seasons longer and more intense. The trend bends toward bigger, more destructive and drought-driven blazes in the West. On average, wildfires burn six times the acreage they did 45 years ago, Climate Central research shows.
Since the 1970s, the frequency of wildfire has increased 1,000 percent in the Pacific Northwest, 889 percent in the Northern Rockies, 462 percent in the Southwest and 256 percent in California’s Sierra Nevada as the mountain snowpack melts earlier and the fire season lengthens, according to Schoennagel’s team’s research.
•••••
Bobby Magill
April 17, 2017
Communities across the Western U.S. and Canada may have to adapt to living with the ever-increasing threat of catastrophic wildfires as global warming heats up and dries out forests across the West, according to a University of Colorado study published Monday.
Residents living in neighborhoods adjacent to forests — known as “wildland-urban interface” zones — will have to accept that many wildfires may have to be allowed to burn and that building new homes in fire-prone forests should be discouraged, the study says.
•••••
climate change is making wildfire seasons longer and more intense. The trend bends toward bigger, more destructive and drought-driven blazes in the West. On average, wildfires burn six times the acreage they did 45 years ago, Climate Central research shows.
Since the 1970s, the frequency of wildfire has increased 1,000 percent in the Pacific Northwest, 889 percent in the Northern Rockies, 462 percent in the Southwest and 256 percent in California’s Sierra Nevada as the mountain snowpack melts earlier and the fire season lengthens, according to Schoennagel’s team’s research.
•••••
Friday, June 23, 2017
Burned feet, parched throats: Arizona homeless desperate to escape heatwave
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/23/arizona-heatwave-homeless-phoenix
Supported by
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Griselda Nevarez in Phoenix
Friday 23 June 2017 1
The man was not wearing any shoes, and he was crawling along the baking asphalt with socks on his hands.
That was how David Lee Witherspoon Jr, president of a food pantry, found him while driving through Phoenix last week. The man told Witherspoon he had left his home without any footwear after a fight, though Witherspoon thought he might have been homeless. Then he had taken off his socks to remove some burrs, but the road surface was so scorching he was forced onto all fours. Luckily Witherspoon had some spare sneakers in his car, and helped the man put them on.
“Anyone crawling along the street when it’s over 100 degrees – you would not survive very long before you got third-degree blisters on your hands and even your knees,” Witherspoon said.
It is currently so hot in Arizona that just inhaling can feel painful. Dozens of flights have been canceled at the Phoenix airport. The National Weather Service has declared an excessive heat warning that will be in place until Monday, amid temperatures approaching 120F.
Yet the swelter is, for the majority of people, mostly avoidable thanks to air conditioning. For those living under bridges and in tents, however, it is suffocating and inescapable. Eventually, it could be fatal.
Almost 6,000 homeless people were counted in the Phoenix region during a one-day census last year.
•••••
Katrina Giddings, 35, said she had spent the previous night, when temperatures were in the high 90s, bedded down on some concrete. “It was a terrible night,” she said. “I kept waking up every hour just to drink some water and to get my hair wet.”
According to the National Weather Service, when the air temperature is 102F and the sun is shining, blacktop can be heated to as much as 167F. That is hot enough to fry an egg or cook ground beef, though more worryingly, the weather service also notes that in such conditions, “human skin is instantly destroyed”. Pets’ paws are also vulnerable – and it is common for homeless people to have dogs.
Phoenicians might fancy themselves accustomed to climatic extremes, though this week even they have been surprised: temperature records have been surpassed two days in a row.
US south-west swelters under extreme heatwave – in pictures
Read more
To help people living on the streets, the Phoenix Rescue Mission has volunteers passing out water, sunscreen, hats, bandanas and towels soaked with cold water. A few beneficiaries don’t realize how dangerous the conditions are.
•••••
And some organizations have been giving out items that seem bizarre: blankets. But there is good reason. The sidewalks don’t necessarily cool all the way down at night, and the blankets are a barrier.
Meanwhile, cooling centers have been set up around the city, and demand for indoor shelter is high. On Thursday, close to 100 homeless people packed the Lodestar Day Resource Center in downtown Phoenix. Some were drenched in sweat and their skin was tomato-red, while others sat and laid their heads on round tables trying to sleep.
•••••
Supported by
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Griselda Nevarez in Phoenix
Friday 23 June 2017 1
The man was not wearing any shoes, and he was crawling along the baking asphalt with socks on his hands.
That was how David Lee Witherspoon Jr, president of a food pantry, found him while driving through Phoenix last week. The man told Witherspoon he had left his home without any footwear after a fight, though Witherspoon thought he might have been homeless. Then he had taken off his socks to remove some burrs, but the road surface was so scorching he was forced onto all fours. Luckily Witherspoon had some spare sneakers in his car, and helped the man put them on.
“Anyone crawling along the street when it’s over 100 degrees – you would not survive very long before you got third-degree blisters on your hands and even your knees,” Witherspoon said.
It is currently so hot in Arizona that just inhaling can feel painful. Dozens of flights have been canceled at the Phoenix airport. The National Weather Service has declared an excessive heat warning that will be in place until Monday, amid temperatures approaching 120F.
Yet the swelter is, for the majority of people, mostly avoidable thanks to air conditioning. For those living under bridges and in tents, however, it is suffocating and inescapable. Eventually, it could be fatal.
Almost 6,000 homeless people were counted in the Phoenix region during a one-day census last year.
•••••
Katrina Giddings, 35, said she had spent the previous night, when temperatures were in the high 90s, bedded down on some concrete. “It was a terrible night,” she said. “I kept waking up every hour just to drink some water and to get my hair wet.”
According to the National Weather Service, when the air temperature is 102F and the sun is shining, blacktop can be heated to as much as 167F. That is hot enough to fry an egg or cook ground beef, though more worryingly, the weather service also notes that in such conditions, “human skin is instantly destroyed”. Pets’ paws are also vulnerable – and it is common for homeless people to have dogs.
Phoenicians might fancy themselves accustomed to climatic extremes, though this week even they have been surprised: temperature records have been surpassed two days in a row.
US south-west swelters under extreme heatwave – in pictures
Read more
To help people living on the streets, the Phoenix Rescue Mission has volunteers passing out water, sunscreen, hats, bandanas and towels soaked with cold water. A few beneficiaries don’t realize how dangerous the conditions are.
•••••
And some organizations have been giving out items that seem bizarre: blankets. But there is good reason. The sidewalks don’t necessarily cool all the way down at night, and the blankets are a barrier.
Meanwhile, cooling centers have been set up around the city, and demand for indoor shelter is high. On Thursday, close to 100 homeless people packed the Lodestar Day Resource Center in downtown Phoenix. Some were drenched in sweat and their skin was tomato-red, while others sat and laid their heads on round tables trying to sleep.
•••••
Informative links
Navy files first charges under military law in ‘Fat Leonard’ scandal
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/navy-files-first-charges-under-military-law-in-fat-leonard-scandal/2017/06/19/10042eb2-54fa-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html?utm_term=.cb8c32519f72
Congress to Pruitt: We’re Not Cutting EPA Budget to Trump’s Levels
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15062017/scott-pruitt-epa-budget-hearing-congress-opposes-trump-cuts
How Liberals Really Reacted to Obama-Themed ‘Julius Caesar’
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/real-time-fact-check-did-liberals-react-obama-042432507.html
http://theweek.com/speedreads/705338/delta-once-sponsored-production-julius-caesar-where-emperor-looked-like-obama
Polk inmates save correctional officer who passed out during work detail
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/polk-inmates-save-correctional-officer-who-passed-out-during-work-detail/450246591
Daniel Ellsberg: Nixon White House Wanted to ‘Shut Me Up’ With Assault
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/daniel-ellsberg-nixon-white-house-wanted-shut-me-assault-n774376
Mike Pence's infrastructure mess: What went wrong with I-69?
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2017/06/18/mike-pence-donald-trump-public-private-partnerships-mitch-daniels-interstate-69-isolux-bloomington/388756001/
A Republican contractor’s database of nearly every voter was left exposed on the Internet for 12 days, researcher says
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/06/19/republican-contractor-database-every-voter-exposed-internet-12-days-researcher-says/?utm_term=.b443056a4c06
Remember Trump’s Promise Not to Touch Social Security? It’s Gone Now
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/trumps-promise-not-to-touch-social-security-is-gone-now.html
Trump sells Qatar $12 billion of U.S. weapons days after accusing it of funding terrorism
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-sells-qatar-12-billion-arms-days-after-accusing-it-of-funding-terrorism/
That $9.99 find at T.J. Maxx? It might raise questions about labor practices
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/06/13/that-find-maxx-might-raise-questions-about-labor-practices/BbiHyN8m4z6M9EgBIsDoOM/story.html?s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
Died from mixing ammonia and bleach
https://www.quora.com/Has-anyone-ever-died-from-mixing-ammonia-and-bleach-Who/answer/Daniel-Kaplan
Trump 'simply does not care' about HIV/AIDS, say 6 experts who just quit his advisory council
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Trump-simply-does-not-care-about-HIV-AIDS-say-11230444.php
London mosque attack suspect named, according to media outlets
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/18/europe/urgent---london-vehicle-collision/index.html
How cats conquered the ancient world
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40306897
Personal Bankruptcies Cut Almost in Half After Obamacare
http://www.investopedia.com/news/personal-bankruptcies-cut-almost-half-after-obamacare/?lgl=myfinance-layout-no-ads
Weed Warning: Legalizing Marijuana Tied to Rise in Crashes in 3 States by HLDI
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/06/23/455548.htm
Russia debacle destroys the last rationale for Trump, the myth of the genius CEO
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-debacle-destroys-last-rationale-trump-myth-genius-ceo-090002823.html
Living with climate change: You can make a difference
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23431310-700-living-with-climate-change-you-can-make-a-difference/
How Could the Fitzgerald Collision Happen?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/could-fitzgerald-collision-happen-164846976.html
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Federal court allows Mississippi to let businesses and government employees cite religious beliefs to refuse service to LGBT people
Jerry Smith was appointed by Ronald Reagan.
Jennifer Elrod and Catharina Haynes were appointed by George W. Bush.
http://www.businessinsider.com/court-clears-mississippi-lgbt-objections-law-2017-6
Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press
June 22, 2017
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal appeals court said Thursday that Mississippi can start enforcing a law that allows merchants and government employees cite religious beliefs to deny services to same-sex couples, but opponents of the law immediately pledged to appeal.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a judge’s decision that had blocked the law.
•••••
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2017/jun/22/house-bill-1523-becomes-law-after-5th-circuit-appe/
House Bill 1523 Becomes Law after 5th Circuit Overturns Injunction
JACKSON — The controversial "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Religious Discrimination Act" is now state law, after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the 2016 injunction that prevented House Bill 1523 from becoming law last July.
The opinion says that plaintiffs, who were Mississippians from every corner of the state claiming the wide-ranging legislation affected and discriminated against them, did not prove that they had suffered injury-in-fact that would allow a court to deem the law unconstitutional.
"We do not speculate on whether, even with those allegations, the injury would be too attenuated to satisfy the standing requirements. The plaintiffs have not shown an injury-in-fact caused by HB 1523 that would empower the district court or this court to rule on its constitutionality," the opinion says.
•••••
The three-judge panel ruled unanimously with an opinion from Circuit Judge Jerry Smith. Jennifer Elrod and Catharina Haynes were the other two judges. Plaintiffs could appeal to the full 5th Circuit to hear the case or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
•••••
Rick Perry Denies Climate Change Role of CO2
Where does he think the heat from the oceans is coming from?
By Marianne Lavelle
Jun 19, 2017
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Monday he does not believe carbon dioxide emissions are the main driver of the earth's record-setting warming, a core finding of climate science. Instead, Perry said, the driver is most likely "the ocean waters and this environment that we live in."
Perry became the second of President Donald Trump's cabinet members to go on television to publicly dismiss the importance of CO2 in global warming, ignoring the scientific evidence. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt rejected its role in answer to essentially the same question in March, also on CNBC's "Squawk Box."
But Perry went further in his response to CNBC host Joe Kernen—who has expressed his own skepticism about climate science in the past—when asked whether he viewed carbon dioxide as the main "control knob" for climate.
"No. Most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in," Perry, a former Texas governor, said.
Where does he think the heat in the ocean comes from?
What does he mean by "this environment that we live in"? The increasing amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are part of "this environment that we live in". What other part of it does he think is causing global warming?
Despite the fuzzy, circular illogic of that reply, Perry went on to say that skepticism about the scientific consensus is a sign of a "wise, intellectually engaged person."
His view comes at a time of record-setting temperatures around the world. The U.S. southwest is entering a brutal heat wave, parts of the Middle East are even hotter, and a fatal wildfire in Portugal punctuated a tremendous hot spell in that part of Europe. No part of the world has been immune from the damages of the warming climate in the past few years.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that the global scientific consensus is that it is "extremely likely" that most of the observed increase in global average surface temperature since 1951 was caused by the concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. The science shows that the oceans are warming—as they absorb carbon dioxide and heat trapped by increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
•••••
"The point is, are we going to continue to have innovation that helps affect in a positive way our environment?" Perry said. "Absolutely!"
But such technology won't be getting much federal government support under the White House budget plan that Perry is slated to defend tomorrow before the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and on Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee's energy panel.
The portion of the Energy Department's budget that actually addresses energy (as opposed to stewardship of nuclear weapons facilities) would be cut by 18 percent, with the budget ax falling most heavily on programs aimed at reducing fossil fuel emissions. The department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which funds research on electric vehicles and clean energy, would face a 70 percent funding cut in the fiscal year beginning in October, under the Trump budget—losing $1.5 billion from its current $2.1 billion budget. Clean coal research would be cut by 85 percent.
Perry will face some of the GOP senators who wrote a letter last month decrying the proposed cuts. "Government-sponsored research is one of the most important investments our country can make to encourage innovation," wrote the group, led by Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee.
Informative links
House GOP health bill changes exempt members of Congress
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/330592-house-gop-health-bill-changes-exempt-members-of-congress
Heat Wave Across Southwest Turns Deadly
https://weather.com/news/news/southwest-heatwave-june-2017
Carrier braces for 600-person layoff just 6 months after Trump touted the company as a job policy victory
http://theweek.com/speedreads/707762/carrier-braces-600person-layoff-just-6-months-after-trump-touted-company-job-policy-victory
If your neighbor's tree falls in your yard, who pays for cleanup?
http://www.ajc.com/business/real-estate/your-neighbor-tree-falls-your-yard-who-pays-for-cleanup/zazzQ1qylBHcTiZOp5DGEL/?ecmp=socialflow_ajc
Want to be happy and successful? Try compassion
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/health/compassion-happiness-training/index.html
Learning compassion
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/09/health/sanjay-gupta-partners-in-health-champions-for-change/index.html
America’s Generosity Divide
https://www.philanthropy.com/article/America-s-Generosity-Divide/156175
Four GOP senators say they can't vote for current Republican health care bill
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/22/politics/republicans-resist-health-care-bill-support/index.html
What the Republicans’ Senate Health-Care Bill Means for America
The Senate republican health care bill goes into effect over several years, some things not fully going into effect until 2021. (Tax cuts for the rich go into effect immediately.) Surely I'm not the only one who sees that this puts these changes not only after the next mid-term elections, but after the next presidential election. So many people will blame the people who are in office then. Since the party of the president usually loses seats in the next mid-year election, this would result in many people blaming them for the actions of the republicans. Same if the Democrats win in 2020. And the people who are oblivious to the way republicans blocked President Obama's efforts to help the economy will be oblivious to the clever scheming of Congressional republicans on this issue.http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-the-senate-health-care-bill-means-for-america
By John Cassidy, Benjamin Wallace-Wells, and Adam Davidson
On Thursday, Senate Republicans unveiled their bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. Below, New Yorker writers offer some initial reactions to the news.
The Senate bill is really three separate proposals. In the private-insurance market, it amounts to what Larry Levitt, a health-care expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, calls “Obamacare-lite.” As for Medicaid—the federal program that provides health services to roughly seventy-five million Americans, most of whom are poor or elderly or are children—the bill involves much bigger, and more harmful, changes. Finally, the legislation would deliver a hefty tax cut to some of the wealthiest households in the country.
•••••
The Affordable Care Act’s biggest achievement came through its expansion of Medicaid and its sibling, the Children’s Health Insurance Plan. By raising the income-eligibility threshold for households and allowing states to cover low-income adults who don’t have children, some thirteen million people have been added to the Medicaid rolls since January, 2014. But the Senate bill would reverse this extension, over three years, starting in 2021. Additionally, it would drastically change the future financing of Medicaid, placing a cap on federal subsidies per person and putting strict limits on the subsidies’ future growth. (The funding formula is actually less generous than the one in the House legislation.) Like the House bill, these changes would cause millions of Americans to lose their health coverage. It would also generate hundreds of billions of dollars of cost savings over the next ten years. We’ll see some precise projections in the coming days, after the Congressional Budget Office releases its analysis of the bill. For some reason, the Republicans’ desire to slash Medicaid has received less coverage than their proposals for the private-insurance market have. This should be at the center of the political debate.
•••••
According to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the top 0.1 per cent of earners—i.e., households that make at least 3.9 million dollars a year—would receive a tax cut of more than two hundred thousand dollars. And, unlike other aspects of the bill, this one would go into effect immediately.
•••••
This bill does openly what killing the Labor Reform Act did with considerable more subtlety: it takes hundreds of billions of dollars from the poorest and most vulnerable and gives it to the richest. It is, by any rational metric, the opposite of what our country needs at this moment. And savvy, self-protective Republican lawmakers feel no need to offer an explanation. This is not a health-care bill; it is a wealth grab by the wealthy. Political-opinion polls show that most Americans know that. Do Republicans care?—Adam Davidson
Why does America have so many hungry kids?
When children are hungry, it cause their bodies to react in a way that eventually causes them to be overweight, becoming more efficient at storing fat from food, lowering their metabolism.
By Thom Patterson, CNN
Updated 3:48 PM ET, Thu June 15, 2017
•••••
Ryder's family represents America's 13.1 million households with children that often go without food: "food-insecure households."
"Food is a struggle at times," said Ryder's mom, Kelly Ann Pfaffly, who also is raising a newborn boy.
Pfaffly, 23, and her 24-year-old husband, Justin, have been married five years. They -- along with Ryder, his 7-year-old sister and his infant brother -- all live in a small room at the hotel. "We've been struggling for quite sometime now," she said. "But we always find a way to make it."
She said she and her husband always make sure the kids have food and clothes. "Even if they don't like wearing them," she joked.
Money from cleaning hotel rooms doesn't always last them through the month. Neither do foodstamps. Lately, the family's broken-down car has made transportation difficult, prompting Kelly to quit her part-time cashier job at a local restaurant.
Located deep in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, the area is swimming in "up to 65,000 visitors daily who pump $1.5 billion into the local economy," according to the Branson Tourism Center. Yet the town doesn't have public transit.
A larger percentage of America's food-insecure households are outside metropolitan areas, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Missouri ranked 12th in the nation for highest percentage of food-insecure households: 15.2% with "low or very low" food security in 2015, according to the USDA. North Dakota had the lowest percentage of food-insecure households with 8.5%, and Mississippi had the highest with 20.8%. The national percentage: 12.7%
•••••
The national percentage of food-insecure households has been dropping lately. It peaked at 11% during the 2008 recession, when so many Americans were losing their jobs. But as unemployment figures began to drop, so did the number of food-insecure households. By 2015, the percentage of American food-insecure households had dipped below 8%.
•••••
Helping the hungry shifted the perspective of Ashley Harkness, another Jesus Was Homeless employee.
"I started seeing that people that I used to judge are so much more like me," Harkness said. "We're all are only one paycheck away from poverty. The only difference is, I have someone who can help me -- and they don't."
The war against child hunger is also being fought in America's schools. Blessings in a Backpack is a nationwide program that helps school children who might otherwise go hungry by providing them with a backpack full of food for the weekends. It's funded in part by Walmart, Cigna and other private companies. But once schools close for summer break, this and many other school-linked programs disappear until the fall.
The federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act provides needy children with free breakfast and lunch at schools. But the USDA in May began relaxing guidelines for that program, opening the door to meals with reduced whole grains, higher sodium and higher fat and sweetened milk. [Due to decisions by republicans.]
•••••
Kelly and Justin Pfaffly want nothing more for little Ryder and his siblings than most parents: a safe place to live and raise their kids and enough work to make a living.
"We never ask for much unless it's absolutely necessary," Justin Pfaffly said.
Currently, they're relying on the kindness of their employer -- a hotel owner who advanced them rent money to live in the hotel in exchange for work cleaning rooms and performing maintenance.
They believe that if they can somehow purchase a reliable vehicle, it could give them better job options and more opportunities.
"I want my kids to never have to worry about being low on food and clean clothes," Justin Pfaffly said. "All in all, my hopes and dreams are that Kelly and I could finally give our children the life they need and most definitely deserve -- and for them to never worry again for things they want."
Woman accused of faking cancer, receiving donations
http://www.fox25boston.com/news/woman-accused-of-faking-cancer-receiving-donations/537780751
Updated: Jun 22, 2017
A Rhode Island woman was arrested for allegedly receiving money through a GoFundMe to help with her fake cancer diagnosis.
In May of 2016, the financial crimes unit began investigating a report that a woman was asking for money under false pretenses. Their investigation revealed that 35-year-old Alicia Pierini had told her friends and family she had brain cancer, and one of her friends started a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses.
Rhode Island State Police said that many contributed to the GoFundMe or to Pierini directly, in total about $28,000.
However, as time went on, some became suspicious.
Detectives said they confirmed she had never been a patient at any of the cancer treatment facilities or doctors she said she was attending.
The Woonsocket resident was charged with obtaining money under false pretenses over $1,500 and access to computer for fraudulent purposes.
She was arraigned and released on $40,000 personal recognizance.
GoFundMe will be reimbursing the individuals who donated directly to the account.
•••••
If you believe you were a victim in this case, Rhode Island Police are asking you to call the Financial Crimes Unit at 401-444-1201.
Updated: Jun 22, 2017
A Rhode Island woman was arrested for allegedly receiving money through a GoFundMe to help with her fake cancer diagnosis.
In May of 2016, the financial crimes unit began investigating a report that a woman was asking for money under false pretenses. Their investigation revealed that 35-year-old Alicia Pierini had told her friends and family she had brain cancer, and one of her friends started a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses.
Rhode Island State Police said that many contributed to the GoFundMe or to Pierini directly, in total about $28,000.
However, as time went on, some became suspicious.
Detectives said they confirmed she had never been a patient at any of the cancer treatment facilities or doctors she said she was attending.
The Woonsocket resident was charged with obtaining money under false pretenses over $1,500 and access to computer for fraudulent purposes.
She was arraigned and released on $40,000 personal recognizance.
GoFundMe will be reimbursing the individuals who donated directly to the account.
•••••
If you believe you were a victim in this case, Rhode Island Police are asking you to call the Financial Crimes Unit at 401-444-1201.
It’s so hot in England, schoolboys are wearing skirts
Few houses in England have air conditioning, so I suspect that is true for schools.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/06/22/its-so-hot-in-england-schoolboys-are-wearing-skirts/?utm_term=.447533bdba41
When I was a child in the U.S., schools did not have air conditioning.
By Lindsey Bever June 22
Amid an intense heat wave, dozens of British schoolboys went to class wearing girls' uniform skirts when the head teacher would not relax a dress code banning the more suitable option: shorts.
The teenage boys at Isca Academy in Exeter argued it was too hot for pants as temperatures approached 90 degrees Wednesday. Dozens of boys, who borrowed uniform skirts from female friends and sisters, planned to go to class Thursday sporting a new look in protest of the school's 'no shorts' policy, according to the English news site, Devonlive.com, though, the temperatures Thursday had dropped into the upper 60s, according to the Associated Press.
“We're not allowed to wear shorts, and I'm not sitting in trousers all day — it's a bit hot,” one of the boys told BBC News.
•••••
“My son wanted to wear shorts but was told he would be put in the isolation room for the rest of the week,” a mother, who was not named, told Devonlive.com about her 14-year-old son. “The head teacher told them 'Well you can wear a skirt if you like' but I think she was being sarcastic. However, children tend to take you literally, and so five boys turned up in skirts today — and because she told them it was okay there was nothing she could do as long as they are school skirts.
•••••
The mother also told Devonlive.com the boys are fighting “injustice.”
“Children also don't like injustice,” she told the news site. “The boys see the women teachers in sandals and nice cool skirts and tops while they are wearing long trousers and shoes and the older boys have to wear blazers. They just think it's unfair that they can't wear shorts in this heat.
“They are doing this to cool down — but also to protest because they don't feel they have been listened to.”
•••••
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23341698
10 ways the UK is ill-prepared for a heatwave
By Vanessa Barford BBC News Magazine
18 July 2013
From the Magazine
•••••
The UK is a country of radiators, not air conditioning. A Mintel report in 2008 found that just 0.5% of houses and flats in the UK had any kind of air con.
That contrasts with the US, where nearly 100 million homes have it. It has even been suggested that air con accounts for as much as 15% of total American energy consumption.
Air con is more common in the workplace in the UK, which might avoid some problems. A Nasa study, cited by Mintel, suggested that productivity falls by 3.6% for every degree over 22C [71.6F].
•••••
McDonald’s Says its Wage Hikes Are Improving Service
http://fortune.com/2016/03/09/mcdonalds-wages/
Phil Wahba
Mar 09, 2016
Last year, McDonald's (mcd, +0.70%) joined a chorus of struggling U.S. companies offering workers pay hikes to help spur a turnaround. And it looks like the move is paying off for the fast-food giant.
The hamburger chain in April announced it would raise the average hourly rate for workers at the U.S. restaurants it owns to $9.90 from $9.01 starting July 2015, with average wages climbing above $10 per hour by the end of 2016. The company also said it would allow those employees to earn up to five days of paid vacation every year following one year of employment. (The higher wages remain very far from the $15 rate many labor advocates are pressing McDonald's to adopt.)
The raises, which affected only about 10% of workers (the vast majority of McDonald's U.S. restaurants are franchised), were announced while McDonald's was developing a plan to shake off a multi-year comparable sales slump and bring people back to its stores.
McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook, who took the helm in 2015, has since moved swiftly, closing hundreds of weak stores, bringing back all-day breakfast, and simplifying the chain's menu, reducing bottlenecks in serving customers quickly. But improving the customer experience hinges on workers being on board with all these changes, hence the raises.
"It has done what we expected it to—90 day turnover rates are down, our survey scores are up—we have more staff in restaurants," McDonald's U.S. president Mike Andres told analysts at a UBS conference on Wednesday. "So far we're pleased with it—it was a significant investment obviously but it's working well."
•••••
Phil Wahba
Mar 09, 2016
Last year, McDonald's (mcd, +0.70%) joined a chorus of struggling U.S. companies offering workers pay hikes to help spur a turnaround. And it looks like the move is paying off for the fast-food giant.
The hamburger chain in April announced it would raise the average hourly rate for workers at the U.S. restaurants it owns to $9.90 from $9.01 starting July 2015, with average wages climbing above $10 per hour by the end of 2016. The company also said it would allow those employees to earn up to five days of paid vacation every year following one year of employment. (The higher wages remain very far from the $15 rate many labor advocates are pressing McDonald's to adopt.)
The raises, which affected only about 10% of workers (the vast majority of McDonald's U.S. restaurants are franchised), were announced while McDonald's was developing a plan to shake off a multi-year comparable sales slump and bring people back to its stores.
McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook, who took the helm in 2015, has since moved swiftly, closing hundreds of weak stores, bringing back all-day breakfast, and simplifying the chain's menu, reducing bottlenecks in serving customers quickly. But improving the customer experience hinges on workers being on board with all these changes, hence the raises.
"It has done what we expected it to—90 day turnover rates are down, our survey scores are up—we have more staff in restaurants," McDonald's U.S. president Mike Andres told analysts at a UBS conference on Wednesday. "So far we're pleased with it—it was a significant investment obviously but it's working well."
•••••
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Facebook manipulators
From a Facebook comment I saw:
There's a business in Facebook, of liking and sharing, people get paid for it . often it involves a sick child in bed or a hurt animal or things of that nature that Force reactions from people and get likes and shares. This builds up stats and those stats are what they get paid for because of advertisements.snd agendas.
I spoke to a really right-wing string and they were in no way ashamed of the fact that this person's job was to acquire information, steal it -and then manipulate it into algorithms for Facebook for the sole purpose of getting people to support a political candidate in the United States. This person was a Freemason. I told him I had suspected that these algorithms were being developed because a lot of the provocateurs are on Facebook seemed professional. He verified my suspicions and let me know that that was his profession. And let me tell you this guy was living pretty well. I guess the bottom line is we need to gain some awareness into the source of certain kinds of memes and when you see people like really going off the handle on the right wing on social media , no pun intended...🌞 they may be following instructions and patterns and algorithms that were given to them to follow by professional propagandists. This alone has been very interesting and its effect on our society will be long-lasting.
Tags: influence
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Not so green: how the weed industry is a glutton for fossil fuels
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/20/cannabis-climate-change-fossil-fuels
Oliver Milman in Denver
@olliemilman
Tuesday 20 June 2017
•••••
He now owns three cannabis-growing facilities, all housed in what were shuttered Denver warehouses. The second largest, a windowless blockhouse that holds around 500 cannabis plants, throbs with energy.
Large 1,000-watt lamps bathe the plants in a blueish hue during the vegetative phase, when the plants are gaining mass, while a fizzing yellow light scorches the vegetation as it enters its flowering phase, producing the buds of weed that are trimmed, cured and sold for around $1,400 a pound. (It used to be much more, before a stampede of growers saturated the local market).
“We are consuming a lot of energy compared to what we would with LED lights,” said Isenbergh, who pays at least $4,000 a month for electricity. “We tried LED but we couldn’t get the right yield from the plants. And this is a weight game. The LEDs just don’t have the horsepower.”
•••••
And with around half of all US states now allowing cannabis for various uses, hothoused cultivation is increasingly a concern for governors and mayors promising to fill a Donald Trump-sized hole in emissions reductions.
•••••
Evan Mills, a senior scientist at the University of California, was one of the first researchers to quantify how energy hungry the nascent industry is, estimating in 2011 that indoor cannabis cultivation represents 1% of total electricity use across the US, a figure backed up by a New Frontier study last year.
Lighting can comprise up to half of a cannabis grower’s energy use, with the desire to create a round-the-clock version of natural growing conditions requiring hugely powerful high pressure sodium (HPS) lights. These lights are on a par with those found in hospital operating rooms, throwing out around 500 times the illumination recommended for reading.
As a result, producing just a couple of pounds of weed can have the same environmental toll as driving across America seven times. Cannabis may still invoke thoughts of small-time, hippyish pursuits but the actual energy impact of indoor growers is on a par with humming data centers, Mills’s study found.
•••••
Denver’s electricity use has been edging up at a rate of more than 1% a year, with nearly half of that increase due to marijuana-growing facilities, the city has said. While just a small percentage of Denver’s electricity is used by cannabis operations, they are far more energy intensive on a per-square-foot basis than most other types of businesses. This demand, in turn, drives fossil fuel use, because Colorado gets the majority of its energy from coal-fired power plants.
•••••
In order to calibrate conditions to reap multiple harvests a year, growers have to bake the plants in light while cranking the air conditioning to ensure rooms stay at a finely balanced temperature. A dehumidifier is used to prevent mold, carbon dioxide is pumped in to bolster growth and fans mimic the presence of a breeze. Irrigation systems are often hoses plugged into the plants, leading to tubs of water. The goal is healthy, weighty buds.
All of this uses a lot of energy and LEDs, despite saving a lot of power, have been deemed by many growers to be less effective and more expensive than HPS lights.
•••••
Still, LEDs aren’t in themselves a perfect answer. Because marijuana generally takes longer to mature under LEDs, it can result in not much energy being saved. And large greenhouses such as Strawberry Fields’ two-acre facility in Pueblo County still need supplemental lamp light alongside natural sunshine.
•••••
Oliver Milman in Denver
@olliemilman
Tuesday 20 June 2017
•••••
He now owns three cannabis-growing facilities, all housed in what were shuttered Denver warehouses. The second largest, a windowless blockhouse that holds around 500 cannabis plants, throbs with energy.
Large 1,000-watt lamps bathe the plants in a blueish hue during the vegetative phase, when the plants are gaining mass, while a fizzing yellow light scorches the vegetation as it enters its flowering phase, producing the buds of weed that are trimmed, cured and sold for around $1,400 a pound. (It used to be much more, before a stampede of growers saturated the local market).
“We are consuming a lot of energy compared to what we would with LED lights,” said Isenbergh, who pays at least $4,000 a month for electricity. “We tried LED but we couldn’t get the right yield from the plants. And this is a weight game. The LEDs just don’t have the horsepower.”
•••••
And with around half of all US states now allowing cannabis for various uses, hothoused cultivation is increasingly a concern for governors and mayors promising to fill a Donald Trump-sized hole in emissions reductions.
•••••
Evan Mills, a senior scientist at the University of California, was one of the first researchers to quantify how energy hungry the nascent industry is, estimating in 2011 that indoor cannabis cultivation represents 1% of total electricity use across the US, a figure backed up by a New Frontier study last year.
Lighting can comprise up to half of a cannabis grower’s energy use, with the desire to create a round-the-clock version of natural growing conditions requiring hugely powerful high pressure sodium (HPS) lights. These lights are on a par with those found in hospital operating rooms, throwing out around 500 times the illumination recommended for reading.
As a result, producing just a couple of pounds of weed can have the same environmental toll as driving across America seven times. Cannabis may still invoke thoughts of small-time, hippyish pursuits but the actual energy impact of indoor growers is on a par with humming data centers, Mills’s study found.
•••••
Denver’s electricity use has been edging up at a rate of more than 1% a year, with nearly half of that increase due to marijuana-growing facilities, the city has said. While just a small percentage of Denver’s electricity is used by cannabis operations, they are far more energy intensive on a per-square-foot basis than most other types of businesses. This demand, in turn, drives fossil fuel use, because Colorado gets the majority of its energy from coal-fired power plants.
•••••
In order to calibrate conditions to reap multiple harvests a year, growers have to bake the plants in light while cranking the air conditioning to ensure rooms stay at a finely balanced temperature. A dehumidifier is used to prevent mold, carbon dioxide is pumped in to bolster growth and fans mimic the presence of a breeze. Irrigation systems are often hoses plugged into the plants, leading to tubs of water. The goal is healthy, weighty buds.
All of this uses a lot of energy and LEDs, despite saving a lot of power, have been deemed by many growers to be less effective and more expensive than HPS lights.
•••••
Still, LEDs aren’t in themselves a perfect answer. Because marijuana generally takes longer to mature under LEDs, it can result in not much energy being saved. And large greenhouses such as Strawberry Fields’ two-acre facility in Pueblo County still need supplemental lamp light alongside natural sunshine.
•••••
It’s So Hot in Phoenix, Planes Can’t Takeoff
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/phoenix-heat-wave-planes-takeoff-21558
Brian Kahn By Brian Kahn
June 20, 2017
An intense heat wave is crippling the West this week, sending the mercury above 120°F in places like Phoenix. In a sign of just how hot things are getting, some airlines have had to cancel flights because of the heat.
American Airlines said it cancelled 50 flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor aboard Bombardier CRJ aircraft on Tuesday because the planes can’t operate above 118°F.
Heat waves are intimately tied to climate change as rising background temperatures make them more intense and common. The latest batch of heat will cook an area from northern California to western Texas, a region home to some seven of the 10 fastest-warming cities in the country.
Temperature records have already fallen across California and heat will build throughout the week. Sacramento, San Jose, Palm Springs, Fresno and Death Valley all set daily highs on Monday. But the hottest temperatures aren’t even expected to arrive until Tuesday. They’ll last through Thursday, and forecast highs mean the region could set all-time records.
Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas are forecast to be within striking distance of all-time records. All eyes will be on Phoenix, which is ground zero for the heat wave. Temperatures are forecast to climb to 120°F on Tuesday, just 2°F shy of its all-time record.
All-time record hot or not, the extreme weather has the potential to be life-threatening. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning and its Phoenix office has said “heat of this magnitude is rare, dangerous and very possibly deadly.”
•••••
“Across the world we're finding that we can link unusually warm weather events to climate change,” Andrew King, a climate researcher at Australia’s ARC Centre for Excellence, told Climate Central in March following February’s intensely mild weather. He added climate change is almost certainly playing a role in almost all extreme heat events “for most of the world.”
While the heat wave this week in the West has not been specifically attributed to climate change, it’s probably safe to say background warming is playing a role and the impacts we’re seeing will only become more pronounced in the future.
Take the grounded flights, for example. They’re what one group of scientists have dubbed a “hidden cost of climate change.” That’s because higher temperatures generally translate to thinner air, making it harder for airplanes to take off. The solution is either to ground flights or bump people and packages to make planes lighter.
If carbon pollution keeps going at its current rate, Phoenix could see 20 more days a year by 2100 where flights are restricted to a maximum takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds. That’s currently a rare occurrence. Other airports like LaGuardia in New York and Reagan National in Washington, D.C. could see even more days with weight restrictions.
But canceled flights are a climate change inconvenience. There are far more serious impacts that will put more lives at risk if carbon pollution continues unchecked. Research published on Monday showed that half the world’s population will face life-threatening heat waves by 2100 unless carbon pollution is curbed.
The summer average temperatures in Phoenix could be more like Kuwait City by the end of the century, making this currently rare heat routine.
Brian Kahn By Brian Kahn
June 20, 2017
An intense heat wave is crippling the West this week, sending the mercury above 120°F in places like Phoenix. In a sign of just how hot things are getting, some airlines have had to cancel flights because of the heat.
American Airlines said it cancelled 50 flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor aboard Bombardier CRJ aircraft on Tuesday because the planes can’t operate above 118°F.
Heat waves are intimately tied to climate change as rising background temperatures make them more intense and common. The latest batch of heat will cook an area from northern California to western Texas, a region home to some seven of the 10 fastest-warming cities in the country.
Temperature records have already fallen across California and heat will build throughout the week. Sacramento, San Jose, Palm Springs, Fresno and Death Valley all set daily highs on Monday. But the hottest temperatures aren’t even expected to arrive until Tuesday. They’ll last through Thursday, and forecast highs mean the region could set all-time records.
Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas are forecast to be within striking distance of all-time records. All eyes will be on Phoenix, which is ground zero for the heat wave. Temperatures are forecast to climb to 120°F on Tuesday, just 2°F shy of its all-time record.
All-time record hot or not, the extreme weather has the potential to be life-threatening. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning and its Phoenix office has said “heat of this magnitude is rare, dangerous and very possibly deadly.”
•••••
“Across the world we're finding that we can link unusually warm weather events to climate change,” Andrew King, a climate researcher at Australia’s ARC Centre for Excellence, told Climate Central in March following February’s intensely mild weather. He added climate change is almost certainly playing a role in almost all extreme heat events “for most of the world.”
While the heat wave this week in the West has not been specifically attributed to climate change, it’s probably safe to say background warming is playing a role and the impacts we’re seeing will only become more pronounced in the future.
Take the grounded flights, for example. They’re what one group of scientists have dubbed a “hidden cost of climate change.” That’s because higher temperatures generally translate to thinner air, making it harder for airplanes to take off. The solution is either to ground flights or bump people and packages to make planes lighter.
If carbon pollution keeps going at its current rate, Phoenix could see 20 more days a year by 2100 where flights are restricted to a maximum takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds. That’s currently a rare occurrence. Other airports like LaGuardia in New York and Reagan National in Washington, D.C. could see even more days with weight restrictions.
But canceled flights are a climate change inconvenience. There are far more serious impacts that will put more lives at risk if carbon pollution continues unchecked. Research published on Monday showed that half the world’s population will face life-threatening heat waves by 2100 unless carbon pollution is curbed.
The summer average temperatures in Phoenix could be more like Kuwait City by the end of the century, making this currently rare heat routine.
The Science Of Why It's Too Hot For Some Planes To Fly In The Southwest U.S.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2017/06/20/the-science-of-why-its-too-hot-for-some-planes-to-fly-in-the-southwest-u-s/#77ea88e754ce
Interesting. I anticipated that it would be due to hot air being less dense, which was accurate, but I was thinking only about the amount of force generated by the engines, so that less force would be generated for the same amount of engine speed. That is a factor, but another is the effect on the lift capability of the wings:
Marshall Shepherd
June 20, 2017
The National Weather Service in Phoenix, Arizona confirmed on Tuesday morning that a record high temperature was set Monday June 19th. The temperature was 118 degrees F. This tied the record set only a year ago in 2016. The National Weather Service also tweeted this ominous statement
......If we hit our forecast highs Tuesday and Wednesday it would set 2 new records. #azheat
Across the southwest United States, heat experienced "less than once per year on average" is happening, and it is dangerous. Ironically, a new paper released Monday in the peer-review journal Nature Climate Change found that extreme heat like that being observed in the Southwest U.S. and in Portugal will become more common and intense. The study also finds that the number of people globally affected by 20 days or more of intense heatwaves (dangerous temperature and humidity) will jump from 1 in 4 currently to 3 out of 4 by 2100.
This is consistent with a 2016 National Academy of Science report that concluded that contemporary heatwaves are increasingly linked to climate change. Such heat is obviously a human health concern, but there is another disruption that you may not think about. Extreme heat affects air travel. Believe it or not, it is unsafe to operate many of the airplanes currently in use by major airlines when temperatures are this hot, and science explains why.
The Arizona Republic reported that around 50 flights for Tuesday were cancelled at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. These were primarily regional flights. According to The Arizona Republic
a statement from American Airlines, the American Eagle regional flights use the Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which has a maximum operating temperature of 118 degrees. Tuesday's forecast for Phoenix includes a high of 120 degrees, and the flights that are affected were to take off between 3 and 6 p.m.....Larger jets that fly out of Sky Harbor have higher maximum operating temperatures: Boeing, 126 degrees, and Airbus, 127 degrees
The science behind why airlines struggle in extreme heat is rather simple. Patrick Smith is a pilot and author of the book Cockpit Confidential. In 2013, Business Insider considered the question of why aircraft struggle in extreme heat. While heat is stressful on some of the planes internal parts, physics is the main reason. Business Insider quotes Smith's writing:
Hot air is less dense. This affects the output of the engines as well as aerodynamic capabilities, increasing the required runway distance and reducing climb performance. Therefore the amount of passengers and cargo a plane can carry are often restricted when temps are very high......How much so depends on the temperature, airport elevation and the length of the available runways. And getting off the ground is only part of it: once airborne, planes have to meet specific, engine-out climb criterion, so nearby obstructions like hills and towers are another complication.
•••••
An airplane's wing is designed in such a way (see below) that lower pressure is created as air flows over the the top of the wing, and higher pressure is found beneath the wing. The difference in pressure (gradient) creates lift. If there is not sufficient airflow to create the pressure difference, there is insufficient lift. Extreme heat conditions, as noted above, make it difficult to generate the required lift for planes to take off or land.
•••••
For me, this is one of many ways that extreme heat (and likely climate change) affects your life and our economy that you may not realize. This is not about polar bears or penguins. It is about our day-to-day commerce, economy, and convenience.
Monday, June 19, 2017
Tropical storm warnings for U.S., northern South America
Forecasts made possible by scientists.
See maps at the National Hurricane Center:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/000950.shtml?cone#contents
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/tropical-storm-warnings-gulf-coast-windwards-brace-bret
A serious rain/flood threat for the central Gulf Coast
The much bigger tropical concern in the Atlantic is from a system that hasn’t yet become a depression. Advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone 3 were launched on Monday afternoon. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to the mouth of the Pearl River, and a tropical storm watch from west of Intracoastal City to High Island, Texas (see Figure 3 below). Although the Alabama and Florida Panhandle coasts are not included in the watch, residents there should be aware of the potential for extremely heavy rain even if the potential tropical storm remains well to the west.
...
NHC’s official outlook for PTC3 calls for it to become a tropical storm by Tuesday evening, in which case it would be named Cindy. Having two simultaneous tropical storms in June would be very unusual, though not unprecedented. According to Dr. Phil Klotzbach, the Atlantic has seen at least two simultaneous tropical storms in June three times during the 20th century: in 1909, 1959, and 1968.
NHC forecast track for PTC 3 as of 2100Z 6/19/2017
...
The slow-moving system now known as PTC 3 could dump 10” to 20” of rain on parts of the central Gulf Coast this week. Models do not indicate that PTC 3 is likely to become a strong tropical storm or hurricane. Even if it does become Cindy, its sustained winds may never top 50 mph. However, a system like this doesn’t need to reach tropical storm status in order to cause major havoc. This became clear with last year’s “no-name” floods in Louisiana—the nation’s worst disaster of 2016, with more than $10 billion in damage.
Lead found in 20% of baby food samples, especially juices and veggies
By Lydia Zuraw, Kaiser Health News
Updated 12:17 PM ET, Fri June 16, 2017
Pediatricians and public health researchers know they have to be on the lookout for lead exposure from paint chips and contaminated drinking water. A new report suggests food -- particularly baby food -- could be a problem, too.
The Environmental Defense Fund, in an analysis of 11 years of federal data, found detectable levels of lead in 20 percent of 2,164 baby food samples. The toxic metal was most commonly found in fruit juices such as grape and apple, root vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots, and cookies such as teething biscuits.
The organization's primary focus was on the baby foods because of how detrimental lead can be to child development.
"Lead can have a number of effects on children and it's especially harmful during critical windows of development," said Dr. Aparna Bole, pediatrician at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, who was not involved with the report. "The largest burden that we often think about is neurocognitive that can occur even at low levels of lead exposure."
Lead can cause problems with attention and behavior, cognitive development, the cardiovascular system and immune system, Bole said.
The samples studied were not identified by brand, and the levels of lead are thought to be relatively low. Still, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, no safe blood lead level in children has been identified.
•••••
In the resulting report, released Thursday, Neltner found that the baby food versions of apple juice, grape juice and carrots had detectable lead more often than the regular versions. Researchers could determine how frequently contamination occurred, but not at what levels.
•••••
A third of the world now faces deadly heatwaves as result of climate change
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/19/a-third-of-the-world-now-faces-deadly-heatwaves-as-result-of-climate-change?CMP=share_btn_tw
Oliver Milman
June 19, 2017
Nearly a third of the world’s population is now exposed to climatic conditions that produce deadly heatwaves, as the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere makes it “almost inevitable” that vast areas of the planet will face rising fatalities from high temperatures, new research has found.
Climate change has escalated the heatwave risk across the globe, the study states, with nearly half of the world’s population set to suffer periods of deadly heat by the end of the century even if greenhouse gases are radically cut.
“For heatwaves, our options are now between bad or terrible,” said Camilo Mora, an academic at the University of Hawaii and lead author of the study.
The best strategies to keep bodies cool in a heatwave, according to researchers
Read more
High temperatures are currently baking large swaths of the south-western US, with the National Weather Service (NWS) issuing an excessive heat warning for Phoenix, Arizona, which is set to reach 119F (48.3C) on Monday.
The heat warning extends across much of Arizona and up through the heart of California, with Palm Springs forecast a toasty 116F (46.6C) on Monday and Sacramento set to reach 107F (41.6C).
The NWS warned the abnormal warmth would “significantly increase the potential for heat-related illness” and advised residents to drink more water, seek shade and recognize the early symptoms of heat stroke, such as nausea and a racing pulse.
Mora’s research shows that the overall risk of heat-related illness or death has climbed steadily since 1980, with around 30% of the world’s population now living in climatic conditions that deliver deadly temperatures at least 20 days a year.
The proportion of people at risk worldwide will grow to 48% by 2100 even if emissions are drastically reduced, while around three-quarters of the global population will be under threat by then if greenhouse gases are not curbed at all.
“Finding so many cases of heat-related deaths was mind blowing, especially as they often don’t get much attention because they last for just a few days and then people moved on,” Mora said.
“Dying in a heatwave is like being slowly cooked, it’s pure torture. The young and elderly are at particular risk, but we found that this heat can kill soldiers, athletes, everyone.”
•••••
This time period includes the European heatwave of 2003, which fueled forest fires in several countries and caused the River Danube in Serbia to plummet so far that submerged second world war tanks and bombs were revealed. An estimated 20,000 people died; a subsequent study suggested the number was as high as 70,000.
A further 10,000 died in Moscow due to scorching weather in 2010. In 1995, Chicago suffered a five-day burst of heat that resulted in more than 700 deaths.
However, most heat-related deaths do not occur during such widely-covered disasters. Phoenix, for example, suffered an unusually hot spell last June that resulted in the deaths of at least four people. Hyperthermia, an excess of body heat, can lead to heat stroke and a potential inflammatory response that can kill.
Mora said the threshold to deadly conditions caries from place to place, with some people dying in temperatures as low as 23C [73.4F]. A crucial factor, he said, was the humidity level combined with the heat.
“Your sweat doesn’t evaporate if it is very humid, so heat accumulates in your body instead,” Mora said. “People can then suffer heat toxicity, which is like sunburn on the inside of your body. The blood rushes to the skin to cool you down so there’s less blood going to the organs. A common killer is when the lining of your gut breaks down and leaks toxins into the rest of your body.”
•••••
“The impact of global climate change is not a specter on the horizon. It’s real, and it’s being felt now all over the planet,” said Amir AghaKouchak, UCI associate professor and co-author of that study.
“It’s particularly alarming that the adverse effects are pummeling the world’s most vulnerable populations.”
•••••
Oliver Milman
June 19, 2017
Nearly a third of the world’s population is now exposed to climatic conditions that produce deadly heatwaves, as the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere makes it “almost inevitable” that vast areas of the planet will face rising fatalities from high temperatures, new research has found.
Climate change has escalated the heatwave risk across the globe, the study states, with nearly half of the world’s population set to suffer periods of deadly heat by the end of the century even if greenhouse gases are radically cut.
“For heatwaves, our options are now between bad or terrible,” said Camilo Mora, an academic at the University of Hawaii and lead author of the study.
The best strategies to keep bodies cool in a heatwave, according to researchers
Read more
High temperatures are currently baking large swaths of the south-western US, with the National Weather Service (NWS) issuing an excessive heat warning for Phoenix, Arizona, which is set to reach 119F (48.3C) on Monday.
The heat warning extends across much of Arizona and up through the heart of California, with Palm Springs forecast a toasty 116F (46.6C) on Monday and Sacramento set to reach 107F (41.6C).
The NWS warned the abnormal warmth would “significantly increase the potential for heat-related illness” and advised residents to drink more water, seek shade and recognize the early symptoms of heat stroke, such as nausea and a racing pulse.
Mora’s research shows that the overall risk of heat-related illness or death has climbed steadily since 1980, with around 30% of the world’s population now living in climatic conditions that deliver deadly temperatures at least 20 days a year.
The proportion of people at risk worldwide will grow to 48% by 2100 even if emissions are drastically reduced, while around three-quarters of the global population will be under threat by then if greenhouse gases are not curbed at all.
“Finding so many cases of heat-related deaths was mind blowing, especially as they often don’t get much attention because they last for just a few days and then people moved on,” Mora said.
“Dying in a heatwave is like being slowly cooked, it’s pure torture. The young and elderly are at particular risk, but we found that this heat can kill soldiers, athletes, everyone.”
•••••
This time period includes the European heatwave of 2003, which fueled forest fires in several countries and caused the River Danube in Serbia to plummet so far that submerged second world war tanks and bombs were revealed. An estimated 20,000 people died; a subsequent study suggested the number was as high as 70,000.
A further 10,000 died in Moscow due to scorching weather in 2010. In 1995, Chicago suffered a five-day burst of heat that resulted in more than 700 deaths.
However, most heat-related deaths do not occur during such widely-covered disasters. Phoenix, for example, suffered an unusually hot spell last June that resulted in the deaths of at least four people. Hyperthermia, an excess of body heat, can lead to heat stroke and a potential inflammatory response that can kill.
Mora said the threshold to deadly conditions caries from place to place, with some people dying in temperatures as low as 23C [73.4F]. A crucial factor, he said, was the humidity level combined with the heat.
“Your sweat doesn’t evaporate if it is very humid, so heat accumulates in your body instead,” Mora said. “People can then suffer heat toxicity, which is like sunburn on the inside of your body. The blood rushes to the skin to cool you down so there’s less blood going to the organs. A common killer is when the lining of your gut breaks down and leaks toxins into the rest of your body.”
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“The impact of global climate change is not a specter on the horizon. It’s real, and it’s being felt now all over the planet,” said Amir AghaKouchak, UCI associate professor and co-author of that study.
“It’s particularly alarming that the adverse effects are pummeling the world’s most vulnerable populations.”
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Oh, Lovely: The Tick That Gives People Meat Allergies Is Spreading
Megan Molteni
June 17, 2017
First comes the unscratchable itching, and the angry blossoming of hives. Then stomach cramping, and—for the unluckiest few—difficulty breathing, passing out, and even death. In the last decade and a half, thousands of previously protein-loving Americans have developed a dangerous allergy to meat. And they all have one thing in common: the lone star tick.
Red meat, you might be surprised to know, isn’t totally sugar-free. It contains a few protein-linked saccharides, including one called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or alpha-gal, for short. More and more people are learning this the hard way, when they suddenly develop a life-threatening allergy to that pesky sugar molecule after a tick bite.
Yep, one bite from the lone star tick—which gets its name from the Texas-shaped splash of white on its back—is enough to reprogram your immune system to forever reject even the smallest nibble of perfectly crisped bacon. For years, physicians and researchers only reported the allergy in places the lone star tick calls home, namely the southeastern United States. But recently it’s started to spread. The newest hot spots? Duluth, Minnesota, Hanover, New Hampshire, and the eastern tip of Long Island, where at least 100 cases have been reported in the last year. Scientists are racing to trace its spread, to understand if the lone star tick is expanding into new territories, or if other species of ticks are now causing the allergy.
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This time, it wasn’t a plate of pork chops they shared; it was a new cancer drug called cetuximab. The drug worked, but curiously, patients that lived in the southeast were 10 times as likely to report side effects of itching, swelling, and a dangerous drop in blood pressure.
Platts-Mills teamed up with cetuximab’s distributor, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and began comparing patient blood samples. He discovered that all the patients who experienced an allergic reaction had pre-existing antibodies to alpha-gal, and cetuximab was full of the stuff, thanks to the genetically modified mice from which it was derived.
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as far as anyone can tell, alpha-gal syndrome seems to be the only allergy that affects all people, regardless of genetic makeup. “There’s something really special about this tick,” says Jeff Wilson, an asthma, allergy, and immunology fellow in Platts-Mills’ group. Usually a mix of genes and environmental factors combine to create allergies. But when it comes to the lone star tick it doesn’t matter if you’re predisposed or not. “Just a few bites and you can render anyone really, really allergic,” he says.
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As for a cure? There’s not much science has to offer on that front, besides Epipens and veggie burgers.
Study shows Earth’s killer heat worsens
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/19/too-hot-to-handle-study-shows-earths-killer-heat-w/
The Washington Times is right-wing, which makes their article even more notable.
Too hot to handle: Study shows Earth’s killer heat worsens
By SETH BORENSTEIN - Associated Press - Monday, June 19, 2017
Killer heat is getting worse, a new study shows.
Deadly heat waves like the one now broiling the American West are bigger killers than previously thought and they are going to grow more frequent, according to a new comprehensive study of fatal heat conditions. Still, those stretches may be less lethal in the future, as people become accustomed to them.
A team of researchers examined 1,949 deadly heat waves from around the world since 1980 to look for trends, define when heat is so severe it kills and forecast the future. They found that nearly one in three people now experience 20 days a year when the heat reaches deadly levels. But the study predicts that up to three in four people worldwide will endure that kind of heat by the end of the century, if global warming continues unabated.
“The United States is going to be an oven,” said Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii, lead author of a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change .
The study comes as much of the U.S. swelters through extended triple-digit heat. Temperatures hit records of 106, 105 and 103 in Santa Rosa, Livermore and San Jose, California on Sunday, as a heat wave was forecast to continue through midweek. In late May, temperatures in Turbat, Pakistan, climbed to about 128 degrees (53.5 degrees Celsius); if confirmed, that could be among the five hottest temperatures reliably measured on Earth, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of Weather Underground.
Sunday, June 18, 2017
]How the press is helping Republicans keep their health care bill secret
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/06/16/how-press-helping-republicans-keep-their-health-care-bill-secret/216936
Heard about this on public radio. Looked at various commercial news sites, saw nothing about the health care bill, much less that it is being written in secret, and most members of the Senate, much less the public, won't be allowed to see it before it comes up for a vote. But they did report on Carrie Fisher's autopsy report.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/senate-republicans-intend-ram-through-secret-health-care-bill
A search found an article on msnbc, which people wouldn't find unless they already knew about it and did a search.
http://www.businessinsider.com/ did have reference on their main page to this article
http://www.businessinsider.com/republican-healthcare-bill-secret-2017-6
Republicans are doing everything they can to keep their healthcare bill a secret
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Trump-Era Political Violence Deterring Democratic Candidates
http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-violence-democrats-death-threats-624361
‘I got 31 death threats because of your website’: Maher guest blisters Breitbart editor for publishing fake news
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/i-got-31-death-threats-because-of-your-website-maher-guest-blisters-breitbart-editor-for-publishing-fake-news
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Trump Repealed Regulation Protecting Workers From Wage Theft
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-repeals-regulation-wage-theft_us_58d9408ee4b03692bea814c9?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
Laundry Pods Can Be Fatal for Adults with Dementia
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/laundry-pods-can-be-fatal-adults-dementia-n773366
Climate Change May Spark More Lightning Strikes, Igniting Wildfires
I just spent a lot of time trying to find out the number of recorded lightning strikes per year, could only find information on deaths caused by lightning strikes, which is not the same since we have more safety devices now.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141113-climate-change-lightning-atmosphere-science/
I found the National Lightning Detection Network, for the U.S., which has a database, but I don't have time to try to see if I can get the information I want.
http://www.vaisala.com/en/products/thunderstormandlightningdetectionsystems/Pages/NLDN.aspx
Climate Change May Spark More Lightning Strikes, Igniting Wildfires
By Jane J. Lee, National Geographic
PUBLISHED November 15, 2014
Add this to rising seas, more intense hurricanes, and more frequent thunderstorms: Climate change will also spark more lightning.
The frequency of lightning flashes could rise by an estimated 50 percent across the continental U.S. over the next century, researchers report Thursday in the journal Science. That's bad news for wildfires across the country.
Lightning triggers about half the wildfires in the continental U.S., says lead study author David Romps, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. (Learn "Why Big, Intense Wildfires Are the New Normal.")
A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, says Romps. And moisture is one of the key ingredients for triggering a lightning strike.
Increased lightning will also affect greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, he says, though that could be both a good and a bad thing.
The bad: More lightning means more ozone, which is a potent greenhouse gas, Romps says.
But on the positive side, lightning also produces compounds called nitrogen oxides, which indirectly reduce levels of methane, another powerful greenhouse gas, says Romps.
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